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This story dates back almost two decades from my days in retail, but it's still one of those examples when a customer (or in this case, about a half a dozen of them) want things done THEIR way.
I worked in a medium-sized grocery store of a big chain during the summers when I was in high school. One of my jobs was restocking the beverage section, which by itself was fairly easy, just moving boxes and crates from the storage rooms to the beverage section of the shop. The only thing to remember was designated areas and fridges for beverages from different companies and breweries, simple enough.
One of the breweries hadn't provided us with a fridge for their products and all other fridges were sponsored (and owned) by other companies. The problems started when workers from a nearby construction site started frequenting the shop buying beer. They insisted that the brand they wanted (one of the cheapest, let's call it brand "K") should be available cold and didn't listen to any explanations that the brewery haven't provided us with a cold storage facility for their products, we don't have one of our own for beer and I absolutely can not put brand "K" beer in any of the existing fridges because they're owned by competitors of brand "K".
The construction workers were pissed, allright, but seemed to understand the situation. Fair enough.
The next afternoon, when I worked the evening shift, I was called to manager's office. You guessed it right, the construction workers had helped themself and put several cases of brand "K" beer in brand "S" fridges to cool overnight and if that wasn't bad enough, the regional inspector had paid a visit next morning, seen all the competitor's beer in their fridge, thrown a hissy fit and reported the whole thing to corporate management as well as the board of alcoholic beverages (they've put it in a fridge designated to soft drinks and mineral water, a big no-no back then). It took me almost an hour to explain myself out of the situation as I WAS responsible for the beverage section and the whole episode basically fell on me. No lawsuit was filed but that was a close call.
Nevertheless, I got an OK from the management to do some re-arranging in beverages and just to make sure brand "K" beer stays WARM, I placed it next to the radiators of all other fridges, where the temperature was at least 90°F at all times. And made absolutely sure all brand "K" beer found in fridges was promptly returned there. Yes, I got yelled at by the construction workers on a daily basis and they tried to move the beer over and over again, but I had a huge smile on my face every time I told them the facts about the corporate policy, the law and that there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.
Had they asked me nicely even once, I'd probably placed a couple of crates in (refridgerated) back storage room for a better customer service, but as far as I'm concerned, SC:s get to drink their beer warm.
I worked in a medium-sized grocery store of a big chain during the summers when I was in high school. One of my jobs was restocking the beverage section, which by itself was fairly easy, just moving boxes and crates from the storage rooms to the beverage section of the shop. The only thing to remember was designated areas and fridges for beverages from different companies and breweries, simple enough.
One of the breweries hadn't provided us with a fridge for their products and all other fridges were sponsored (and owned) by other companies. The problems started when workers from a nearby construction site started frequenting the shop buying beer. They insisted that the brand they wanted (one of the cheapest, let's call it brand "K") should be available cold and didn't listen to any explanations that the brewery haven't provided us with a cold storage facility for their products, we don't have one of our own for beer and I absolutely can not put brand "K" beer in any of the existing fridges because they're owned by competitors of brand "K".
The construction workers were pissed, allright, but seemed to understand the situation. Fair enough.
The next afternoon, when I worked the evening shift, I was called to manager's office. You guessed it right, the construction workers had helped themself and put several cases of brand "K" beer in brand "S" fridges to cool overnight and if that wasn't bad enough, the regional inspector had paid a visit next morning, seen all the competitor's beer in their fridge, thrown a hissy fit and reported the whole thing to corporate management as well as the board of alcoholic beverages (they've put it in a fridge designated to soft drinks and mineral water, a big no-no back then). It took me almost an hour to explain myself out of the situation as I WAS responsible for the beverage section and the whole episode basically fell on me. No lawsuit was filed but that was a close call.
Nevertheless, I got an OK from the management to do some re-arranging in beverages and just to make sure brand "K" beer stays WARM, I placed it next to the radiators of all other fridges, where the temperature was at least 90°F at all times. And made absolutely sure all brand "K" beer found in fridges was promptly returned there. Yes, I got yelled at by the construction workers on a daily basis and they tried to move the beer over and over again, but I had a huge smile on my face every time I told them the facts about the corporate policy, the law and that there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.
Had they asked me nicely even once, I'd probably placed a couple of crates in (refridgerated) back storage room for a better customer service, but as far as I'm concerned, SC:s get to drink their beer warm.
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